Political Theory

Nations without States is a comparative study of Western substate nationalism – in Catalonia, the Basque country, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Quebec and First nations people (Indians) in Canada and the USA. It offers a typology of the different political contexts faced by nations without states in the West and attempts to link this with an analysis of the processes leading to nationalism as a mass movement. In this context, Guibernau discusses the role of intellectuals and the media in the mobilization of nationalist groups, and the various kinds of strategies which nationalist groups might employ, ranging from cultural resistance to armed violence. The final two chapters explore the challenges to the nation-state model posed by European integration and globalization and the opportunities that this offers to sub-state nationalists. This is an ambitious book on an important subject. At times, it tends toward being textbook-ish, and seems to lose sight of the argument in the quest to provide information about such a range of groups and context. It succeeds, however, in covering a wide number of case studies, and attempts to link these with a theoretical analysis of the phenomenon of nationalism. It will be of interest to political scientists, political sociologists, and students of nationalism.